Piececlopedia: Man

Historical notes

The Man, also commonly known as a Guard, Prince, Commoner, or General is a piece which has appeared in various early chess variants under various names, and is still in use in modern inventions. It dates back to at least to the 1200s, when it was used in Courier Chess. It moves like the usual King, but is not royal, so is not subject to check or mate.

Movement

The Man combines the movement of the Ferz and the Wazir; that is it may either step one square in any direction (like a King). The Man is not a royal piece. The Man captures the same way it moves.

Vocabulary: Adjacent

A Man can move to any adjacent space. Two spaces are adjacent if they are orthogonally or diagonally adjacent. Orthogonally adjacent spaces share a common side. Diagonally adjacent spaces share no sides in common but are connected at a corner. If the spaces are squares, they share a common corner; if they are hexagons, an adjoining line connects a corner of each space.

Games

The Man is a popular piece, used in many games, under many names, including:

• Councellor Chess (Councellor)
• Courier chess (Man)
• Courier-Spiel (Fool)
• Roman Chess (Archer)
• Jupiter (Commoner)
• ArchCourier Chess (Guard)
• Pacific Chess (Guard)
• Perfect 12 (Prince)
• Roman Chess (Archer / Chariot)
• Shatranj Kamil (Dabbabah)
• Modern Shatranj (General)
• Great Shatranj (General)

Checkmating

This piece can generally force checkmate against a bare king, with the help of its friendly king. However, this depends on the board size: at or above 15x15, the man can no longer deliver checkmate from a generic position. Try it (on 8x8)!

Images

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